Hi there,

can anyone suggest what this might be? i have a very annoying rattle coming from the rear of the car, which seems to correspond to bumps in the road, so i assume its suspension related. i've looked, wriggled, passed MOT, nothing. please can anyone help me find a solution?

Heat shield above exhaust?

I've developed this too. Will get the car up and look on Monday, I'll let you know what I find.

I would definitely say the heat shield is the problem. Had this exact same issue about two weeks ago. Got underneath the car to find heat shield is only being held on by two of the four original clips or whatever you want to call them with the other two completely missing.

cheers for the advice, i'l have a look when its stopped raining!

jo.

this happened to me a couple of months ago, it did make me think what was causing the noise at first, them circular clip things have all apart from 1 disappeared, so sometimes mine falls onto the exhaust every couple of weeks and i just re-adjust the remaining one left.

Had this exact issue a few months back. And as said 2 of the 4 clips has corroded through the heat shield so was hanging loose on one side.

Bought some new clips and cut 2 circles out of coke can bigger than the corroded holes and its held well.

The clips come in a pack of 10 when I bought them from VAG so 8 for spares if it happens again.

Had the same problem with mine, only rattled on bumps. Turned out the plastic suspension stop sleeves had come off and were jiggling up and down the suspension. Just cut them off in the end.

i did find that one of the sleeves had broken off on the suspension, but i've fixed that, and it's still noisy. going to sweet talk a exhaust type person tomorrow to put it up on their ramps to have a look.

Had this exact issue a few months back. And as said 2 of the 4 clips has corroded through the heat shield so was hanging loose on one side.

Bought some new clips and cut 2 circles out of coke can bigger than the corroded holes and its held well.

The clips come in a pack of 10 when I bought them from VAG so 8 for spares if it happens again.

Oh I don't think that is right, coke cans are for fixing exhaust pipes, beans cans are for fixing heat shields! Best to prepare a few extras as there will be a next time. I tend to hammer a hole in the repair washer then belt it with a ball pein hammer to shape it a bit, then its just a case of placing the new, or next retainer on top of a suitable deep socket and extension - and whack things back into place. Dissimilar metals, why did VAG ever think that would work for long???

Hi all,

its been a long time and i still have the rattle. i have ruled out the heat shield, not a wobble there. i think it could be the suspension sleeves. if it took them off as suggested, would that cause another problem as clearly they have a purpose? any advice please? cheers jo.

I've just taped one of mine back up. They should be bonded to the end of the bump stop rubber but this is the second that's fallen off one of mine. The last was on my previous car and Duck Tape kept that in place for years after.

 

It stops muck going down the shaft of the shock absorber so it's worth having it. If it's loose and just lying on the top of the shock it's no use.

Hi,i have taped one back on, as it had completely fallen off, but the noise continued. however, the other side, although it is still attached is very loose, i may try attaching some tape to that one to stiffen it. i am reluctant to remove them, although the noise is now beginning to drive me insane. my husband has observed that the rattling stops when the steering wheel is turned, especially when turning to the right, the very loose sleeve is on the left. so it could still be something else, although we have taped and wriggled everything we can think of. the sound does seem to correlate to the sleeves.

Much like ours, there is always some sort of noise back there however many things you think you've fixed. I've just started another thread on here about the rumbling and scuffing we're getting from the rear wheels or brakes.

 

Back to yours though - have you checked it's not something behind the interior trim on that side? The rear washer hose came adrift behind there on our old one and this one too has something loose in there.

where would i look to find that please?

It was behind the panel with the speaker in it, under the rear quarter window on the estate. I never managed to completely remove it but managed to undo enough of the spring clips to just pull it forward enough to get to the pipe. It had undone at the junction just behind the top corner of the rear seat on the passenger side.

 

You'd probably notice if it was that as there'd be no rear window washer but like I say, something else is rattling behind ours so it could be a candidate.

Prob not remotely the same sound but i had an annoying rattle / vibration sound for ages and couldnt figure out what it was. Turned out to be an empty can of red bull that was vibrating against some coins in the centre console behind the hand brake. Shows how frequently i clean my car lol